How an SLA 3D Printer Works

Over a million tiny mirrors

Some or most of you understand, intellectually, how an SLA 3D printer works: Light is fired in a particular pattern into liquid resin, curing a thin layer of it. Subsequent layers are built atop (or beneath) the one before. But in this video Bill Hammack, a/k/a The Engineer Guy, breaks down precisely how an SLA 3D printer does what it does, using Autodesk's now open-source Ember DLP model to demonstrate:

Enter a caption (optional)

The latest design news, jobs & events. Straight to you every other week.

Join over 300,000 designers who stay up-to-date with the Core77 newsletter...

You can download the designs for free on Thingiverse

If you've got access to a lasercutter, some 4mm / 1/8" plywood and live or work in an untidy environment, Thingiverse denizen Mutsuki's got you covered. She's designed and/or remixed a host of organizational designs like these nifty Stackable Boxes: And this Customizable Parts Box: Or this all-purpose Portable Box:

Designing 3D parts is tough, but with good software it becomes easier. Everyone has their favorite tool, and below we outline some of the most popular CAD programs. And if you're prototyping on a budget, or have a quick fix to make, there's lots of great free tools out there

Understanding when fillets are a bad idea, a good idea or absolutely necessary

Fillets are one of those design features for which there seems to be no middle ground, or at least not one that is widely known. Either a part is devoid of them, and most or all edges are well-defined, or the part's designer decided to take the opposite route, and

This is what Generation Z was up to during NY Design Week

For understandable reasons, the focus during NYCxDesign tends to be on independent designers, design studios and college students—what other demographics are out there designing for a better world? We often forget that designers under 20 years old are now learning digital fabrication at school right under our noses, starting in